This morning I got to preach at the church service that is held in our host's home. It was a new experience getting to talk about more than my testimony or the gospel message. I shared about the woman at the well in John 4. How she was isolated from her community and had a bad reputation for being married 5 times and currently living with a man who is not her husband. Jesus offers her living water that will keep her from ever thirsting again. She thinks this is a physical type of water that will keep her from having to come back to the well but obviously Jesus is talking of her need for spiritual transformation. God prophecies about her past behavior and lifestyle and she asks Jesus who is and how He knows those things about her. He reveals that He is the Messiah and she goes back to her village proclaiming what she has just witnessed.
I would encourage you to closely read this chapter for yourself because there is so much in it, but a few things that specifically stuck out to me that I felt needed to be shared with the people this morning. First, Jesus was speaking to a Samaritan woman who was at the well by herself in the heat of the day. This meant that she was an outcaste in society, otherwise she would have been at the well with a group of women at a different hour to get water. It’s apparent all throughout the Bible that God loves everybody equally and he especially liked to show that concept by going against the norm and reaching out to people who were considered the most worthless and invaluable in a community. This makes so much more sense now that I am living in a society where people really do ignore those who are dirty and poor and seemingly insignificant. They believe that these people do not deserve love and are not worthy of receiving God, let alone anything good.
Also, so many people here believe in Jesus but do not accept the living water that he offers. I hope that this morning the Lord revealed to them that living water is really what they need and that they will constantly feel empty and unfulfilled until they have it. You will always thirst for something more whether it be money, education, joy, or love if you do not have Jesus living inside of you. Only Jesus can fill the emptiness and thirst in our soul that is never quenched by the things of the world.
It's a simple story and one that most people are familiar with in the Bible. But it got me thinking about all the Christians who might not be experiencing this living water. You believe in God and have accepted the truth about Jesus and his redemptive death on the cross for your sins. But have you come to know the LIVING water that He offers? The satisfaction, contentment, joy, peace, and hope that He offers each and every one of us? If not, ask Him for it.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened; to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks find; and the one who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7:7-8 (Also found in Luke 9:10-11)
At the very surface, this verse is beginning to blow my mind and it's exciting to think about all the possibilities of actually applying it to everyday life. But… if you are curious what living water looks likes, start by following the instructions in this scripture!
